GENERAL FEATURES OF SHASTA. 



The snowy peak of Shasta, the pride of California, is one of the 

 highest and most accessible of the snow-clad glacier-bearing moun- 

 tains of the United States. It is an old volcano, 14,450 feet in alti- 

 tude, and is completely cut off from neighboring mountains — from 

 Lassen Peak, at the north end of the Sierra proper, by the valleys of 

 the IMcCloud and Pitt rivers; from the south end of the Cascade Range 

 in Oregon by a broad lava plateau and the valley of Klamath River.. 

 The breadth of the gap on the north is diminished by a cluster of low- 

 volcanic mountains known as the Goose Xest Group. 



Shasta is the best-known landmark in California. Seen from the 

 north, south, and east it appears as a single cone pushing its lofty 

 crown upward six or seven thousand feet above apparent timberline. 

 Seen from the west and southwest its summit is elongated and looks more 

 like the crest of a ridge (frontispiece). This appearance is due in part 

 to a large secondary volcano, Shastina, which rises from the northwest 

 shoulder of the mountain, and in part to a long ridge which pushes out to 

 the south. This west side, the one seen by tourists in traveling over the 

 Shasta route from San Francisco to Portland, is in many resjiects the 

 least interesting. From its exposure to the direct rays of the afternoon 

 sun it is the hottest slope, and consequently the one on which timber 

 reaches highest and on which the ice and snow are most reduced. 



Like most isolated mountains, Shasta is seen to best advantage from 

 a distance. The most imposing view to my mind is from the northeast, 

 the region of the Modoc lava beds, from which tlie peak looms up in all 

 its icy grandeur — a single massive cone buried from top almost to bot- 

 tom in continuous glaciers, below which it is encircled by a dark belt 

 of coniferous forest. It is also very imposing as seen from the distant 

 Trinity Mountains. 



The north and east sides of the peak are completely, and the south side 

 partly covered by glaciers, but not a glacier is to be found on the west, 

 where the large masses of white seen from Sisson are banks of snow, 

 more or less permanent. The only glacier visible from the railroad is 

 Whitney Glacier, which occui^ies the notch between Shasta and Shas- 

 tina, and may be seen from points north of Edgewood. The higher 

 slopes, between the lower edge of the ice and snow ami the ui)per edge 

 of the forest, are steep and rocky. In the main they consist of radi- 

 ating ridges alternating with glacial basins and precipitous canyons. 

 As a rule the surface is light pumice and pumice sand thickly strewn 

 with fragments of gray volcanic rock, interrupted here and there by 

 masses and cliffs of darker lava, often reddish brown in color. 



21753— Xo. IG 3 17 



